The Friday Link for 3/27/26

Hi all, and welcome to the weekend! 

This week, I start off with something I posted years ago, but it came back up in my suggested file, and I couldn't resist posting it again.  These are 2 of the Cinematic trailers for 'Star Wars: The Old Republic' video games from 16 years ago. 

They still hold up pretty well today, and frankly, these trailers leave me wanting to watch a lot more.

The thing I don't understand is how the studios that put these insanely good trailers missed delivering this level of on-the-edge-of-your-seat goodness for the last two Star Wars Films, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Don't get me wrong, I do like both of those movies, and I REALLY loved The Force Awakens (and Luke's storyline in 8 was so damn good), but Star Wars movies 8 and 9 just missed with a lot of the secondary plots.  

I also LOVE how they de-aged the technology in this timeline before the Star Wars movies we know. 

Can you imagine if the creative team behind these trailers had been handed the last two movies? You would've come out of the theater exhausted!   

Staying with the movie world, the book Cold Storage (by David Koepp) was an incredibly scary book, with a villain as scary and relentless as the Terminator robots, and it finally got made into a movie.  The unfortunate part was that the movie was somewhat discarded with its release, and is now off to some streaming service.  

As a fan of the book, this clip follows the story pretty cleanly. It's from early in the movie. It does get a little scary and icky, so watch out!

I will watch Cold Storage when it does eventually stream.

Finally, tonight, how did the moon get to be the moon?

The current theory is that a large planetoid hit Earth in its early forming stage and the resulting crash led to the smaller planet breaking up, half absorbed by Earth, and the other half forming the Moon. 

This is presented as the answer to how the moon was formed, but I was surprised when Howtown put this video out and pointed out a lot of problems with that theory. 

That's it for this week!

Have a great weekend and make sure you stay up to date on all of your vaccinations! 

The Friday Link for 3/20/26

Howdy everyone, and welcome to the first day of Spring! After a blizzard last weekend, we are hitting 78 degrees tomorrow. Horribly wrong, but I am not complaining.  MELT!

Let's start off with a video that just makes me laugh. It's stupid and well done. It will make you smile.  Here is the RV scene from Anchorman 2.

I usually don't post movie trailers unless it's the funny ones from Screen Junkies, but this week I am making an exception.  

The next Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, looks amazing.  They are copying a lot of the iconic covers in the promo, and the freaking Punisher finally shows up with Spidey. 

I also want to feature the Dune Part 3 trailer.  They have absolutely done that book right with this trilogy, and I will be at the movie theater the day it comes out to see the conclusion.  When the extended cut gets released, my guess is that it will be 10 hours long. 

Our last video tonight comes from Dr. Emily Zarka and Monstrum. I haven't featured her in awhile and this video is pretty good.

To preface the video, do you remember this:

These are what's called the Phoenix Lights.  In 1997, A LOT of people saw them as they flew over a major metro area, and an insane amount of video footage of the lights exists.  I've thought about that sighting over the years.

Now it seems like a similar sighting happened in 1951, then called the Lubbock Lights.  Emily has more on that. 

That's all for this week. 

Have a great weekend. And please make sure you stay up to date on all of your vaccinations! 

The Friday Link for 3/13/26

Howdy everyone! 

Let's start tonight with the Oscars! With the ceremony this weekend, Screen Junkies has their annual review of all the Oscar Best Picture nominees in one long Honest Trailer.

Some adult language on this one. 

Next up is a sketch from last week's Saturday Night Live.  This season has been more miss than hit, but with Ryan Gosling returing you're pretty much guaranteed at least one top-notch segment.  He and Mikey Day once again succeed at getting the group on stage to break.  

I think the laughing ones are generally the best. 

Next up, a simple question, which is not so simple.  Is it War?

Finally tonight is the great Kat Abughazaleh.  She is the wonderful social media influencer who decided to run for office in IL-09.  Her campaign is refreshing and overdue, and she is everything I want to see from the Democratic Party, but she has exposed the ugliness of the underside of modern politics.

For a lot of people, including a lot of people in the Democratic party, the furthest to the political left they want this country to go is Republican Lite.  They are so terrified of a more socialist America, with healthcare and a fair tax system for all, that they will spend obscene amounts of money to keep the status quo in place.

Kat has been documenting the attacks against her, and here is one which might be getting funded by other Democrats, BUT WE DON'T KNOW! This is so secretive that we have no idea about the people behind the attack. All we do know is they are TERRIFIED of Kat actually winning.

And although she won't say it, shame on the social media influencers who will sell out this country for a few bucks. 

I love her, and I hope she wins on Tuesday! 

Have a great weekend, everyone, and stay safe.

Make sure to stay up to date on all of your vaccinations.

The Friday Link for 3/6/26

Hi all,

Let's start this week by visiting Minneapolis!  From 1968, the year I was born!

This makes the city look very white! It's so white that it makes Des Moines look like Miami. 

Let's fast forward 6 years, and lo and behold, we got the first skyscraper, the IDS Tower. 

This is an interesting video when compared to the previous one from 6 years earlier, but you can see the identity crisis the city is going through as it barrels through the 1970s.  It was clearly trying to shake its small city vibes, with a lot of people doing "back in my day" observations, while they ignored the diverse problems emerging within the metro. 

It should be noted that the modern Republican complains about how the city is dead.  They make this argument because the one street, Nicollet Mall, is a much quieter street today than it is shown in this video.  For 150 years, Nicollet Mall was the prime shopping district of the city.

But two points Republicans want to leave out.  The Mall is a lot less busy today because of the death of retail stores everywhere! It's not Minneapolis' fault that modern times did in Macy's, Donaldson's, and Montgomery Ward. The Dales shopping malls, and eventually the Mall of America, are far more responsible for retail leaving the downtown.

The other thing Republicans leave out is that while Nicollet Mall was undeniably busy in the 60s, 70s, and 80's, the rest of the city was not! Most of Washington Avenue was empty parking lots. North Loop was empty buildings and rats. No one wanted to try to go north of the river. And the cute neighborhoods of today were much less vibrant back then. 

The 1974 prediction segment of what the city would look like in the future is wildly off.

Call MST3K for a much-needed local riff on these.

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Edouard Manet is one of my favorite all-time paintings. It's a fun look at life in the 1880s and is lively and vibrant.  

It's also off a bit.  A lot is going on in this painting. The channel ArtDeco breaks it down.

That's it for this week.  Have a great weekend! 

Make sure to stay up to date on all of your vaccinations!